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Battle of the Antaeus Nebula
The Battle of the Antaeus Nebula was The Royal Allegiance's first contact with The Swarm and the beginning of the highly destructive Swarm War. Prelude Several civilian ships and one small Allegiance warship had gone missing in the area over the previous weeks. The three ships were dispatched to search for a civilian vessel which had vanished containing many high-profile politicians. The Allegiance, wanting to be seen to do something but knowing the hopelessness of finding the vessel, sent out small groups of warships. So this group of three Triton-class Heavy Destroyers, while nowhere near the most practical assortment to send, was the most awe-inspiring, the combination of ships most likely to reassure the public. Had the Allegiance expected to run into an enemy, they would probably have brought along a few Apollo-class Frigates to provide starfighter and point defense support. The Battle The Swarm fleet was detected from considerable distance. The HMS Watchman sent over a spy drone but it was destroyed. Captain John Bradley demanded an explanation, threatenin the unknown ships with return fire. The responding transmission was not what was expected- a series of clicks and hisses, with speech patterns too fast for the ship's AI to understand. The Swarm fleet opened fire with missiles and Beam Weaponry, impacting on the Destroyer's shields. The three Tritons opened fire with their six prow Particle cannons each, destroying one Swarm Destroyer and taking down another's shields, and destroying two carriers and damaging two more. After that the Allegiance gained the upper hand, possessing more prow-mounted heavy weaponry than the Swarm ships. HPHE Cannons, Particle Cannon streaks and Nuclear warheads took down a total of two destroyers and three carriers. From this point in the battle, the Allegiance lost the advantage. The Swarm ships turned to face the oncoming ships at broadside, and the Allegiance ships faced heavy bombardment on the approach. Thinking quickly, the HMS Authority of Truth jumped in a straight line to just behind one of the carriers, hammering its engines with the eight port Particle Cannons. The carrier soon succumbed and blew up shortly after it released its starfighter complement. With the Authority of Truth in trouble from the starfighters, and another Destroyer turning to broadside to fire on the Truth, Bradley ordered the HMS Monarchy to jump to behind the Destroyer, release its starfighter complement and assault the Destroyer. Now the Swarm had just two Destroyers and one Carrier, but the Allegiance were severely outmanoeuvred and outnumbered when it came to starfighters. The Flashfighters from the Monarchy and the Truth got caught up in dogfights, hugely outnumbered they were defeated. As the Monarchy and the Authority of Truth assaulted the Two Destroyers and one carrier, and the Watchman circled the battle with her broadside guns firing, providing long range support, the inevitable happened. The Monarchy, under fire from two warships and hundreds of fighters and bombers, lost her shields. The Destroyer loosed a barrage of missiles and the Monarchy fragmented and blossomed into bright explosion, before her blazing hulk drifted out of the battlefield. The Swarm ships then turned their attention to the Authority of Truth, flanking her with the two warships then taking down her shields. she withstood heavy bombardment from the port and starboard before her shields fell and she was cut in two by a Particle Beam. The last remaining Allegiance starfighters, a battered squadron of Flashfighters led by Captain Matt Saren, were ordered to flee the battle, and return to the Watchman so she could jump to Avalon and safety. Pursued by hundreds of enemies, the surviving fighters raced back to the Watchman, crash-landing on her flight deck and jumping away seconds before another Particle Beam shot through the spot where the Triton-class had just been. Aftermath *In the wake of this battle, the Watchman was repaired at Avalon, and afterwards participated in the Battle of Acheron. After this she was stationed at Hemera. *A large Battlegroup, Battlegroup 48, was sent to find and, if necessary, engage the Swarm. Contact was lost shortly after their last communication. *Five of the six Swarm ships destroyed by the Allegiance were in the first minutes of the battle, when the warships had their primary armament facing the enemy. *From analysing battlefield telemetry, valuable information was gathered that proved vital in the battles immediately following this one. For example, it was ascertained that Swarm ships were quite vulnerable without their massive starfighter complements and, that if their fighter protection could be destroyed, the Allegiance ships would have the upper hand. Triton-class heavy Destroyers were also shown to be vulnerable to large amounts of starfighters, a problem that was addressed with the 2741 class-wide refit. AL-61 Flashfighters were also shown to require faster and more lightly armed support when combating Swarm fighters. This issue was addressed with the introduction of the AL-61 Valiant Interceptor in 2751. Category:The Swarm